Covering three floors and 7400m2 of the regal Barker Building on Kensington High Street, the organic superstore will include in-house bakery, brewery, cheese room, market hall, 12-metre seafood counter and 13 different places to eat – including a champagne and oyster bar, a sushi restaurant, and a tapas bar.

The megastore also promises to offset 100 per cent of its electricity in partnership with wind power supplier Ecotricity, compost all its food waste, and offer full recycling for glass, tin, paper and plastic.

The impressive interior has been designed by Whole Foods Market’s internal design team in partnership with Texas-based architect Bottino Grund, which says it has ‘restored and updated’ the building, while retaining its art deco style.

Whole Foods Markets has already made a big splash in the US, with 191 shops in North America, and it is now moving into the UK on an unprecedented scale. It already has five Fresh & Wild shops in the UK and plans to open another 40 stores here over the next few years, before expanding into Europe.